The 5 worst quarterback drafts in NFL history

The modern NFL quarterback has evolved over the past 35 years, beginning with Joe Montana, Dan Marino and John Elway, continuing into the 2000s with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, and then entering the new era with Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott and Andrew Luck.

As QBs figure to dominate the draft-day discussion in the upcoming NFL draft, For The Win looks back at the last 35 drafts to pick the worst classes of the era.

JaMarcus Russell shot up mock drafts because he torched Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl and was impressive in his pro day. If beating Notre Dame was a prerequisite to go No. 1 then Navy would biannually have its QBs going at No. 1. It wasn’t as much that the Raiders took him with the first pick – Al Davis did a lot of ridiculous things in his later years.

The absurdity was that “experts” had a general consensus that Russell was the best player in the draft, which speaks volumes about the hive mentality of NFL scouts and mock drafters. Everybody just peeks over at everybody else and shapes their boards accordingly.

But while Russell was the biggest No. 1 QB bust ever, he was far from alone in 2007. No QB had more than 15 career wins, only one had a winning record (Drew Stanton’s gaudy 11-6 mark). As of right now, care to venture a guess as to the winningest quarterback (with 14 victories) from the 2007 draft? I’m not even sure Trent Edwards would have picked Trent Edwards. (Stanton is still active so he could one day make history by getting his 15th win.)

1996

At least NFL personnel knew the class of ’96 was nothing special: the first quarterback taken was taken at No. 42. (That’s not the lowest a top-overall quarterback has gone in the past 35 years – but don’t worry, we’ll get to that very soon.) From the class, only Banks started more than two seasons and only Banks had more than 10 wins. Of the eight quarterbacks selected, just three started an NFL game and half played in the league.

2010

Sam Bradford came into the league at the right time: He was the last No. 1 pick to sign before the rookie wage scale, getting $50 million guaranteed before throwing a pass in the NFL. He ended up making around $64 million in St. Louis, then scored $50 million to play .500 ball in Philadelphia and Minnesota.

Most recently, he nabbed a $20 million contract to play in Arizona – not bad for a guy with a 34-45-1 career record whose gone through multiple major knee surgeries and has played 31 games the last four seasons.

Even so, Bradford is still the cream of the 2010 crop, winning more games than the rest of his draft class combined. The next picks from 2010 – Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen and John Skelton – are out of the league.

Only Colt McCoy remains active, as a backup in Washington.

1988

It took 68 picks for the first quarterback to be taken in the ’88 draft, an all-time record. Despite the wait, the third-round pick got the last laugh – he was only one of three quarterbacks drafted between 1985-90 to make an All-Pro team.

Yeah, Tom Tupa ended up starting just 13 NFL games at quarterback and had to transition to punter in order to stay in the NFL (which he did for 11 seasons after his QB hopes flamed out), but still. All-Pro!

Chris Chandler was the second QB taken in ’88 and had a fine 17-year career in the league. The only other selections to win a game was sixth-round pick Stan Humphries, who appeared in two Super Bowls and started one. It was one of the biggest routs in the history of the game, but still. Super Bowl!

2013

Geno Smith as the best? We may need to rethink this. That alone shows it’s not too early to put the ’13 class on the list of great draft busts. Consider: EJ Manuel was the top overall QB selection, going No. 16 to Buffalo. He’s 6-12 as a starter and hasn’t won a game since 2014. Smith, the next QB taken, is 12-19 and has one win in the last three seasons – and he’s been the most successful!

Matt Barkley didn’t throw a pass in 2017, Landry Jones is 3-2 as a backup to Ben Roethlisberger and Ryan Nassib is trying to hang on in the league after a stint with the Giants.

Mike Glennon is the only 2013 QB with any real hope of putting together a career, but he’s 6-16 as a starter, has two wins in the last four seasons and recently signed in Arizona to play backup to Sam Bradford. Being fifth on our list is probably far too kind.

For The Win looks back at the last 35 drafts to pick the worst classes of the era.

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